The Bells Ring Digitally True

Is it live, or is it "Select-a-Season"? When Verdin comes to your block, you could be getting a cast bronze bell that outweighs an elephant... or a clever digital facsimile.

The Verdin company in Ohio has been making bells for 160-years. The largest supplier of bells, clocks and carillon towers in the world, they've seen it all. "We went from classic bells, to record players to 8-track tapes, then cassettes, CDs, and now it's all digital," says Verdin veteran installer Don Swerm, as quoted in an April 21, 2003 article in the Associated Press.

"There is a sound that is extremely hard to duplicate," he explains, "But for an awful lot of churches, the cost is prohibitive." In addition to making the massive bells the old-fashioned way, Verdin makes massive sound systems that hide inside bell towers (with speakers sometimes behind lightweight bell-shaped shells). They are not only less expensive, but their light weight is easier on some aging structures, and they can help avoid the pigeon dropping problem. "I had to use a shovel to get it all out one time," recalls Swerm.

The real bells that Verdin makes are indeed a work of art -- once a bell is completed, its cast is broken, making each one unique. It costs about $15 to $20 per pound to cast these beauties from an alloy of copper and tin, and the most massive bells weigh tons. (The world's largest swinging bell is a Verdin creation -- a 66,000 pound behemoth in Newport, Kentucky.) Each one must be painstakingly formed, tuned to perfection and polished. "I can tell, by listening, what's wrong with a bell," says Swerm. "You can tell what's wrong by the way it strikes. There might be a dead sound or a rattley sound. There's a characteristic thump if it's loose."

For bell tower owners who love their original bells but can't quite find the right personality type (or perhaps budget) or their bell ringer Verdin also builds systems for automatic ringing of the bells by computer, instead of ropes. MotoQuasi?

Read about Verdin, the world's largest supplier of bells, clocks and carillon towers, including how the massive bells are cast and tuned, and how electronic carillon controls work.

Read the complete AP story in the Miami Herald